Low-voltage or mains: which is right for your garden?
Low-voltage systems are safer to work around planting and far easier to extend later. Mains has its place. The decision usually comes down to cable runs and how likely the garden is to change.
The short answer
For most residential gardens, a 12V or 24V low-voltage system is the better choice. It is safer to work around planting, the cable does not need burying to the same depth, and adding a fitting in two years’ time is a twenty-minute job rather than a rewire.
When mains makes more sense
Long runs are where low-voltage struggles. Beyond a certain distance the voltage drop becomes difficult to manage without heavy cable or multiple transformers, and at that point a mains circuit with local drivers is simpler and more reliable. Large or high-output fittings — floodlighting a substantial elevation, for instance — often call for mains too.
What we usually specify
A hybrid. A mains-fed, weatherproof supply point out in the garden feeding one or more transformers, with low-voltage distribution from there to the fittings. You get the flexibility of low-voltage where the planting is, without fighting voltage drop across the whole site.
Related reading
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